There is Nothing New about the 2017 Toyota Mirai Halo Car Other Than its New Color

The Hydrogen fuelled car from Toyota, the Mirai, will now have its second model out in the United States.

The new model is virtually the same and nothing has changed including the prices. The 2017 model of Mirai persists on being Toyota’s technology-based halo car. Though it has been limited to certain regional markets of California, it is still the highest selling fuel-cell car in the US.

Pricing Remains the Same

Toyota has not changed even the price of the 2017 model of Mirai. The base price is the same as that of the 2016 model, which remains at $58,365. This is inclusive of the destination charge which costs $865. However, it does not include any incentives offered by the local, state, or federal bodies, for which the buyers may be eligible for.

To sugar-coat the deal, Toyota is also going to offer a zero percent APR financing for a 60-month agreement and for 72 months, it offers 1.9 percent APR financing. This comes along with a credit of $7,500. The company also offers a lease arrangement with $2,499 to be paid at the time of signing, $349 per month for a 36-month deal and allows driving 12,000 miles per year.

New Additions in Color

The only change that is notable to the new 2017 model of the Toyota Mirai is the addition of a new color. A new color, Atmospheric Blue has been added to the existing palette of colors which already include Celestial Black, Crystal White, Nautical Blue, and Elemental Silver.

Other Details

There is not much change in the other details regarding the 2017 Toyota Mirai. The EPA-rated range still stands at 312 miles and the efficiency rating also still remains unchanged at 67 MPGe.

The Mirai became the first vehicle with the zero-emission tag to break the 300-mile barrier. Previously, the Hyundai Tucson Fuel cell carried a range of 265-miles rate. Since then, even the Tesla Model S versions 90D and 100 D have also surpassed that range mark.

The fuel-cell chamber of Mirai is rated at 153 horsepower i.e. 114 kilowatts, and the car is capable of ramping up the speed from zero to 60 mph in just 10 seconds. At a speed of 26 mph, the Mirai uses a battery which is a 1.6-kilowatt-hour made from nickel-metal-hydride pack to draw extra power from the fuel-cell chamber. That is because the fuel cells cannot shell out the power output instantly to match the demand at all times and in different situations.

The Toyota Mirai 2017 model will be available only to a few dealers in just certain regional markets of California.

Last year, Toyota had temporarily placed the portable hydrogen-fuelling stations at just a few of the eight certified dealers of Mirai so that they can make up for the roll-out of the third-party hydrogen fuelling permanent stations, which was slower than planned.

Toyota’s original plan was to deliver 1,000 Mirai sedans for the 2016 model year in the US and 3,000 sedans by 2017 end. The first models of the 2016 design were delivered in October 2015 and managed to roll out 72 cars before the end of the year. It also delivered 641 cars of the same model in between January and August 2016, making it the rough target to achieve the vehicles sales goals.

The company does not commence the Mirai’s retail sales versus the fleet sales. So it is not clear right now how many of the fuel-cell cars from Toyota have been handed over to the individual owners.